NFL Power Poll - Week 7

1. Green Bay Packers (7-0)

2. New England Patriots (5-1)

3. New Orleans Saints (5-2)

4. San Francisco 49ers (5-1)

5. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2)

6. Baltimore Ravens (4-2)

7. Atlanta Falcons (4-3)

8. Detroit Lions (5-2)

9. New York Jets (4-3)

10. San Diego Chargers (4-2)

11. Buffalo Bills (4-2)

12. Oakland Raiders (4-3)

13. New York Giants (4-2)

14. Houston Texans (4-3)

15. Dallas Cowboys (3-3)

16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-3)

17. Chicago Bears (4-3)

18. Cincinnati Bengals (4-2)

19. Kansas City Chiefs (3-3)

20. Philadelphia Eagles (2-4)

21. Tennessee Titans (3-3)

22. Cleveland Browns (3-3)

23. Carolina Panthers (2-5)

24. Washington Redskins (3-3)

25. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-5)

26. Seattle Seahawks (2-4)

27. Denver Broncos (2-4)

28. Minnesota Vikings (1-6)

29. Arizona Cardinals (1-5)

30. Miami Dolphins (0-6)

31. St Louis Rams (0-6)

32. Indianapolis Colts (0-7)

NFL Power Poll - Week 6

1. Green Bay Packers (6-0)

2. New England Patriots (5-1)

3. Baltimore Ravens (4-1)

4. New Orleans Saints (4-2)

5. San Francisco 49ers (5-1)

6. Detroit Lions (5-1)

7. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2)

8. San Diego Chargers (4-1)

9. New York Jets (3-3)

10. Buffalo Bills (4-2)

11. Oakland Raiders (4-2)

12. Atlanta Falcons (3-3)

13. Tennessee Titans (3-2)

14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-2)

15. Houston Texans (3-3)

16. New York Giants (4-2)

17. Cincinnati Bengals (4-2)

18. Dallas Cowboys (2-3)

19. Chicago Bears (3-3)

20. Philadelphia Eagles (2-4)

21. Washington Redskins (3-2)

22. Kansas City Chiefs (2-3)

23. Cleveland Browns (2-3)

24. Seattle Seahawks (2-3)

25. Carolina Panthers (1-5)

26. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5)

27. Arizona Cardinals (1-4)

28. Denver Broncos (1-4)

29. Minnesota Vikings (1-5)

30. St Louis Rams (0-5)

31. Indianapolis Colts (0-6)

32. Miami Dolphins (0-6)

#1 Movie I wanted to like is...

I often find myself stuck on a movie that I like part of but just cannot say to myself that I liked it enough to think it was a good movie. I wandered on that for a while and came up with a list of movies that I wanted to like really bad, but for reasons that will be revealed I did not. I decided to jut come up with a top 5 list, so here it goes



1. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) directed by George Lucas


Why I wanted to like it:

Because in 1999 I was 19 years old and Star Wars was a huge part of my life. I had tons of Star Wars toys and video games and was so excited to see the movie I felt like I had been waiting forever for. Star Wars movies were finally coming back onto the big screen for the first time since 1983. I was at that age where I had just graduated a year ago and was starting college with my two friends who were both Star Wars fans. We would have long talks about how we thought the movies would play out and what things they needed to show. This movie was huge not just for me but for everyone who wanted to see how Star Wars came to be, we were all thinking these movie would be better then the others because they would explain how Darth Vader came to be. I didn't think this movie could do any wrong, the internet buzz was staggering. I just kept hoping it would come out so I could say I saw the Star Wars prequels when I was 19 and tell my kids all about it, similar to how my dad would retell the stories of how he went to see the first Star Wars movie and how it blew him away. This would be my story to tell, this would be amazing..



Why I didn't like it:

The Phantom Menace is a terrible name for one thing. To be honest when I was done seeing this movie for the first time I was on a nerd high and thought it was one of the best movies I had ever seen. There was no way I would listen to the little voice in my head that was disapointed and confused. Why did I care about trade federations and senators? I just wanted to see a pissed of kid Darth Vader going around and being badass. I felt the movie tried to take on too much and was just a complete disaster. Lucas made sure to make this movie appeal to kids, he needed to sell those toys! Jar Jar Binks is the worst character in the history of Star Wars, no questions asked. I think the Sarlaac Pit from Return of the Jedi acted better in the 5 minutes he acted. Anakin was played by Jake Lloyd who did not know how to act at this point in his career. Usually good actors like Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman phoned in expressionless performances as well, it was mind boggling that such good actors could not convey any emotion.

The CGI was decent, I will give Mr. Lucas that. But was it needed for every little thing in the entire movie? If I had to say there was a good part of the movie it would be the Pod Race scenes (when no one was talking) and the final duel between Qui-Gon Jin (Liam Neeson), Obi Wan Kenobi, and Darth Maul. Maul was the most intriguing character from the movie and is subsequently killed off in the end, which means he would not be appearing in the other prequels. The only hope I had is knowing that there would be two more movies to wrap up the series and I was hoping they would be better then this one and I could just erase this from my memory.

I own this movie, I bought it when it was first released on dvd because I just wanted to try and watch it again hoping I would find more to it I liked. Whenever the movie comes on cable I just shake my head and cannot come to watch much of it. In 1999 this was the movie I wanted to like the best out of any movie I had ever seen and it let me down bad.

NFL Power Poll - Week 5

1. Green Bay Packers

2. New England Patriots

3. New Orleans Saints

4. Detroit Lions

5. Baltimore Ravens

6. San Diego Chargers

7. Buffalo Bills

8. Houston Texans

9. New York Jets

10. San Francisco 49ers

11. Pittsburgh Steelers

12. Oakland Raiders

13. Tennessee Titans

14. Cincinnati Bengals

15. Washington Redskins

16. Atlanta Falcons

17. Dallas Cowboys

18. Chicago Bears

19. New York Giants

20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

21. Kansas City Chiefs

22. Carolina Panthers

23. Philadelphia Eagles

24. Cleveland Browns

25. Seattle Seahawks
26. Arizona Cardinals

27. Denver Broncos

28. Minnesota Vikings

29. Jacksonville Jaguars

30. Indianapolis Colts

31. St Louis Rams

32. Miami Dolphins

Movies I wanted to like #2

2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) directed by Steven Spielberg


Why I wanted to like it:

Well it is Indiana freaking Jones! I, like most others, love the whole Indiana Jones trilogy for its fun action adventure storylines. The last Indy movie was released in 1989 and fanboys have long heard rumors that there would be another Indy movie once George Lucas and Steve Spielberg had the time. Since Lucas was working on Star Wars again it seemed as if the long awaited 4th movie would never materialize. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had to be one of the most anticipated movie ever for me! I just knew that having Indiana Jones back would be awesome, no matter what he was doing. Once they previews were released the movie looked decent enough and since it was Spielberg directing I knew Lucas could not single handily be in charge of messing this one up. I was so eager to see what Professor Jones has in store for his rabid fans! I went to see the midnight showing of this, just so I could say that I was there when it was first opening.



Why I didn't like it:

Well, the magic had just somewhat vanished from the Indiana Jones of old. Harrison Ford looked much older and tired but that wasn't the main reason I didn't like the movie. I guess it was mostly the plot that involved Jones looking for a skull that was tied up with aliens. Jeeze Spielberg, we get it...you love aliens!!!! Okay, so I know that the Indy movies are not realistic by any standard but it was cooler when Indy was after artifacts that actually were rumored to exist or were lore. I just felt Indiana Jones and aliens was not the mix I was looking for.

The movie also reeked of Lucas, too many over the top sets and you could tell when CGI was used. For having almost 20 years between movies you really think they could have done a much better job. Not that Spielberg did his best work here either. Shia LaBeouf (who I like in some roles) was made to be the long lost son Indy never knew he had. I thought they were just trying to set up this monkey swinging kid to take over the mantle of his dad. Once again like Superman Returns I did not care to see if the hero had a kid. I would rather see the hero return to what he does best, kicking some Nazi ass.

The movie did go on to make a killing at the box office. Sure I own the dvd but have seriously never even thought about watching it. A few months back the movie poped up on some cable station and I started watching it again. It does have definite moments that are well done, like the car chase through the jungle scene but even those scenes have to throw in some cheesy moment. Overall the wait just wasn't worth it.

Movies I wanted to like #3

I often find myself stuck on a movie that I like part of but just cannot say to myself that I liked it enough to think it was a good movie. I wandered on that for a while and came up with a list of movies that I wanted to like really bad, but for reasons that will be revealed I did not. I decided to jut come up with a top 5 list, so here it goes


3. Superman Returns (2006) directed by Bryan Singer


Why I wanted to like it:

With the success of Batman Begins in 2005 it seemed as if DC Comic characters were in for a great set of movies. You had Bryan Singer directing and he made one of my favorite comic book movies in X-Men 2 as well as a personal favorite The Usual Suspects. The movie seemed to be cast very well and I agreed with most of the choices. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor seemed genius and Superman himself would be played by a new comer Brandon Routh who looked like a clone of the original Superman actor Christopher Reeves. I also knew Singer wanted this to be a sequel to Superman I & II not a total reboot which seemed like a fresh idea at the time. Everything seemed to point as this not only being a good movie with the right people in front of the camera and behind the scenes but knowing it could also be a huge money maker and lead to even more comic book films with Superman.




Why I didn't like it:

Routh looked the part but his acting was not on par with the hopes of this fanboy. Luther was not really as evil as I was hoping for and the movie really lacked a defining action scene that made the audience say WOW. In fact the movie lacked action, but instead focused on Superman and Lois Lane's child. I think the whole son of Superman thing was the worst aspect of the film for me. I wanted to see Superman and Luther go at it, not a plot about Superman's kid and if he had powers.

Seeing Superman in a hospital bed waiting and knowing he would get better anyway seemed like a waste of time. After first viewing I felt that maybe I missed something and would end up giving the film another shot a few weeks later. The second viewing was a tad better but I still felt that no matter how much I wanted to like Superman Returns that it was not a movie I would like as much as I wanted too.

Since it was released Superman Returns did make quite a lot of money, but not as much as the studio was expecting it too. Singer has said he felt he could do better and was long trying to get a sequel done. Over time a new Superman movie was hatched, this time being directed by Zach Snyder of Watchmen and 300 fame. I only hope that this new movie can address the problems that Superman Returns did wrong.

Movies I wanted to like #4

I often find myself stuck on a movie that I like part of but just cannot say to myself that I liked it enough to think it was a good movie. I wandered on that for a while and came up with a list of movies that I wanted to like really bad, but for reasons that will be revealed I did not. I decided to jut come up with a top 5 list, so here it goes

4. Spider-Man 3 (2007) Directed by Sam Raimi



What I wanted to like it:

I was a big fan of the previous two installments in the series, but more a fan of the awesome Spider-Man 2. When released in 2004 Spider-Man 2 instantly became one of my all time favorite comic book movies. I was pretty pumped to see the follow up and a fanboys dream came true, Venom would be the villain in this one. Spider-Man was also my favorite superhero at the time (to see who it is now, click HERE!) so needless to say I was pretty excited to see how the whole Venom vs. Spider-Man battle would play out. If anything this movie would have a lot going on it knowing that they had two bad guys for the first time in Venom and Sandman as well as Harry Osbourne stuff to tie up and the introduction of Gwen Stacey, whew that is a lot to address.




Why I didn't like it:

I should have seen the writing on the wall with this one. They tried to address too many things and the movie really couldn't focus on just one person to flesh out. We have Peter and Mary Jane, Peter and Gwen Stacey, Sandman, Venom, Harry becoming his own villain, and some where in there Peter Parker hits Mary Jane...ugh the movie was just trying to cover too much! It wasn't helped by the rumor that Raimi did not want to include Venom in the movie and felt he had to from the movie studio. I can see how this could be true since he sort of hurries along the entire Venom story arc. I feel the movie would have played out much better if it Sandman was the lone villain and they incorporated more of Harry going bad. The acting also seemed phoned it especially from the two leads Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, to me it seemed as if they had tired of the roles or maybe they just knew the source material was not as good as the other two movies. The climax of the movie has some good parts to it but overall this movie was a huge let down after Spider-Man 2. Since Spider-Man 3 they have decided to restart the franchise from scratch and The Amazing Spider-Man will be released next year. This could be for the best since the director and actors from the other movies seemed like they were all ready to try something new.

I probably saw Spider-Man 3 a couple of time at the theater, trying to find something I might have missed the first time, trying to like it. I own Spider-Man 1 and 2 on dvd but will never buy this movie.

Movies I wanted to like #5

I often find myself stuck on a movie that I like part of but just cannot say to myself that I liked it enough to think it was a good movie. I wandered on that for a while and came up with a list of movies that I wanted to like really bad, but for reasons that will be revealed I did not. I decided to jut come up with a top 5 list, so here it goes:


5. Southland Tales (2006) Directed by Richard Kelley



Why I wanted to like it:

To be honest I was not a major fan of Donnie Darko when it was first released. I knew all my friends loved it but after I watched it I thought it was ok, nothing special. Then when they re-released it 2004 I went to see it again and everything just worked and I was in love with the film. It could have been seeing it on a big screen or just having more of an open mind but I loved the film. Needless to say I was very stoked to see Mr. Kelley's long awaited follow up Southland Tales. The cast seem interesting enough...you have Stifler (Seann William Scott), The Rock (The Rock), Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and Justin Timberlake amongst others. There was also a series off spin of comic books that I kept trying to order from my work at the time as well as a cameo by my, at the time hero, Kevin Smith who kept telling all his fanboys that the movie was going to rule.


Why I didn't like it:

The movie was a mess! I seriously felt like walking out (to see a further list of movies I wanted to walk out on, click HERE!) because I frankly had no idea what was going on during the movie. I remember it was hard enough to find a movie theater that was actually playing Southland Tales and me and two friends of mine went on a Friday night, I think we made up the majority of the crowd at the movie that night. Kelley seemed like he made a movie that really just made sense to him. I have heard the movie went through many edits and re-cuts, but the movie they released was nowhere as good as I was hoping for. The only scene I enjoyed (that I can recall) was when Justin Timberlake covered The Killers song. Anyway I really was looking forward to seeing what Kelley could do after Donnie Darko, and five years later came this. Since Southland Tales Kelley has made The Box which I have still yet to see but haven't found anyone who has yet to recommend it.